Mitchell v. Hopper

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJuly 1, 2020
Docket3:19-cv-00006
StatusUnknown

This text of Mitchell v. Hopper (Mitchell v. Hopper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. Hopper, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9

10 CORREY MITCHELL, Case No.: 19cv6-JLS-LL 11 Plaintiff, v. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 12 FOR ORDER: (1) GRANTING 13 LT. G. HOPPER, et al., DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR Defendants. SUMMARY JUDGMENT; AND (2) 14 DISMISSING PLAINTIFF’S FIRST 15 AMENDED COMPLAINT WITHOUT PREJUDICE AND WITHOUT LEAVE 16 TO AMEND 17 [ECF No. 13] 18

19 This Report and Recommendation is submitted to United States District Judge Janis 20 Sammartino pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and Civil Local Rule 72.1(c) of the United 21 States District Court for the Southern District of California. Currently before the Court 22 are Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 13 (“Mot.”)], Plaintiff’s 23 Opposition [ECF No. 15 (“Opp,”)], and Defendants’ Reply [ECF No. 20 (“Reply”)]. For 24 the following reasons, the Court RECOMMENDS Defendants’ Motion for Summary 25 Judgment be GRANTED. 26 PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 27 On January 2, 2019, Plaintiff Correy Mitchell, a state prisoner proceeding pro se 28 commenced this action under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. ECF No. 1 1 (“Compl.”). On January 25, 2019, the Court granted Plaintiff IFP status. ECF No. 3. 2 On September 27, 2019, Plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint. ECF No. 12 3 (“FAC”). On October 23, 2019, Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment 4 alleging Plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. See Mot. The Court 5 subsequently issued a Scheduling Order. ECF No. 14. On November 18, 2019, Plaintiff 6 filed a Response to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment. ECF No. 15. On 7 November 25, 2019, the Court issued a Notice pursuant to Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 8 952 (9th Cir. 1998) (en banc), cert. denied, 527 U.S. 1035 (1999) and Klingele v. 9 Eikenberry, 849 F.2d 409 (9th Cir. 1988) and a modified briefing schedule. ECF No. 16. 10 On January 16, 2020, Defendants filed a Reply. ECF No. 20. On January 21, 2020, 11 Plaintiff submitted an Opposition to Defendants’ Statement of Uncontroverted Facts, 12 which the Court accepted on discrepancy on January 27, 2020. ECF Nos. 22, 23.1 13 FACTUAL BACKGROUND 14 I. May 21, 2015 Incident 15 Plaintiff is an inmate incarcerated by the California Department of Corrections and 16 Rehabilitation (“CDCR”). ECF Nos. 13-3 at 2; 23 at 1. At all relevant times, Defendants 17 were CDCR officers employed at Centinela State Prison. Id. 18 In his First Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges Defendants violated his First, 19 Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights during an attack on Plaintiff while he was 20

21 1 On January 6, 2020, Plaintiff separately filed a Motion for Leave to File a Second 22 Amended Complaint. ECF No. 18. Plaintiff sought leave to: (1) add an additional 23 defendant—Dr. K. Kari—who Plaintiff alleged failed to properly diagnose an injury to his ear; and (2) additional facts to support his alleged injuries and increase compensatory 24 and punitive damages. Id. at 1-2. 25 On April 7, 2020, the Court denied Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave without prejudice, 26 holding that Plaintiff’s proposed amendments would be futile if Plaintiff had not 27 exhausted his administrative remedies, but that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment was the more proper vehicle for resolving the question of whether Plaintiff had 28 1 housed at Centinela. See FAC. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that on May 21, 2015, he 2 was “attacked by other inmates” and “stabbed [nine] times with inmate manufactured 3 knives.” Id. at ¶ 9. Plaintiff alleges Defendant Officers S. Leal and A. Danial witnessed 4 the attack. Id. at ¶ 10. Plaintiff alleges he heard Officer Leal yell: “go ahead and get it out 5 of your system, guys” and that “Plaintiff heard no alarm or any orders to get down by any 6 officer in the building[.]” Id. 7 Plaintiff alleges that during the attack, Officer R. Luna fired a 40mm non-lethal 8 weapon at him which “knocked Plaintiff from his feet and tore a hole in Plaintiff’s right 9 calf.” Id. at ¶ 11. Plaintiff alleges that he “landed on his stomach” and his attackers 10 “jumped on his back and continued stabbing him in the back and the back of the head.” 11 Id. 12 Plaintiff alleges that at this point he "heard the alarm on the building activate at 13 which point he “sprang to his feet away from [his attackers] towards the stairs hoping 14 C/O Lea[l] or C/O Dani[a]l would intervene[.]” Id. at ¶ 12. However, Officers Leal and 15 Danial allegedly “gave no verbal orders” and did not act “in any physical way” to stop 16 the attack. Id. 17 Plaintiff alleges that Officer Luna fired another round from the 40mm weapon 18 which struck Plaintiff in head. Id. at ¶ 13. Plaintiff alleges that he suffered permanent 19 hearing damage in his left ear as a result. Id. Plaintiff further alleges the impact from this 20 shot put him “down on his hands and knees” in front of the stairs where he continued to 21 be attacked. Id. at ¶¶ 13-14. Plaintiff alleges that Officer Danial then sprayed Plaintiff’s 22 face with OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) spray, at which point Plaintiff was “stabbed in the 23 face and behind the right ear.” Id. at ¶ 14. Plaintiff alleges that Officer Danial did not 24 utilize the OC spray on any of Plaintiff’s attackers. Id. 25 Plaintiff alleges that once the assault stopped, Officer Leal stated: “[t]his is what 26 happens when you write staff complaints, we don’t come when you need us.” Id. at ¶ 16. 27 Officer Danial allegedly also referenced Plaintiff’s job title as Secretary of the Men’s 28 Advisory Committee—“Mr. Mac Rep.” Id. 1 Plaintiff alleges that when he returned to a “proper state of awareness” he was at a 2 crisis bed in the mental ward where he was told he suffered a “mental breakdown due to 3 the incident.” Id. at ¶ 17. 4 Plaintiff alleges: (1) no pictures were taken of his injuries; (2) no pictures were 5 taken of the crime scene; and (3) his attackers were left on the tier unattended thereby 6 giving them the opportunity to discard the weapons they had used against him. Id. at ¶ 18. 7 Plaintiff alleges Defendant Officer G. Hopper—acting as Officers Luna, Leal and 8 Danial’s supervisor—was responsible for their training, was personally aware of their 9 unlawful conduct, but failed to correct their actions. Id. at ¶¶ 19-20. 10 II. Plaintiff’s Inmate/Parolee Appeal (CEN-X-15- 00893) 11 On or about June 21, 2015, Plaintiff submitted a CDCR 602 Inmate/Parolee 12 Appeal claiming “failure to protect/unnecessary force.” ECF No. 13-2 at 12. The 13 Inmate/Parolee Appeal—Appeal Log No. CEN-X-15-00893—was received by officials 14 at Centinela on or about July 6, 2015. ECF Nos. 13-3 at 3-4; 23 at 2. Plaintiff requested 15 that the May 21, 2015 incident be investigated, that he be given all non-confidential 16 reports about the incident, and that he receive $10,000 from each responsible officer. 17 ECF Nos. 13-3 at 4; 23 at 2. 18 a. Telephonic Interviews with Officer L. Vega 19 On or about July 22, 2015, Officer L. Vega conducted a telephonic interview with 20 Plaintiff. ECF No. 13-2 at 10. Officer Vega informed Plaintiff that the monetary 21 compensation he was seeking was outside of the scope of a First Level Review. Id. 22 b. First Level of Review 23 On August 6, 2015, Plaintiff’s grievance was partially granted at a First Level of 24 Review in that an inquiry was completed, but finding that staff did not violate CDCR 25 policy. ECF Nos. 13-3 at 4; 23 at 2. 26 c.

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Mitchell v. Hopper, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitchell-v-hopper-casd-2020.